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I have used stainless steel pins in an LEM tumbler for about 5 years now. If you look carefully at used pins themselves, they are peened over much like a dumbbell, presumably as a result of collisions with other pins.
Having said that, I have never noticed an issue with any case mouths being damaged and I must have tumbled circa 30,000 cases or so.

I havent cleaned 30,000 cases in the whole of my 35 years of shooting.

Ballistol wrote:I have used stainless steel pins in an LEM tumbler for about 5 years now. If you look carefully at used pins themselves, they are peened over much like a dumbbell, presumably as a result of collisions with other pins.
Having said that, I have never noticed an issue with any case mouths being damaged and I must have tumbled circa 30,000 cases or so.

Weird. I've been running these pins for 7 years and I don't see anything like a dumbbell look. Maybe not all pins are created equal. Can you attach a photo of yours?

I use a home made tumbler with stainless steel pins and after each cleaning session, all cases are examined for damage with a magnifying glass. To date, I have never seen any instances of deformation of the case mouth due to this cleaning process.
In addition, during the subsequent sizing and trimming of each case, I haven't noticed any extra effort required or material removed as a consequence of using this specific cleaning process.
Accuracy of the finished round is not in question.
I usually only tumble a maximum of 70 cases of 308Win at a time which is more than enough for my particular needs and I like the concept of my cases being cleaned while I'm getting on with something else.
Each to his / her own.

LL

Terrible pictures I know, but you can just see deformation at the end of the pin, much like mushrooming on a chisel. The LEM cleaner is certainly “vigorous” in its cleaning action, the pins and cases fairly hurtle around the container. For those who’ve never seen one, here’s a YouTube link. https://youtu.be/e5JIf2IOAU4

As to cleaning 30,000 cases, if anything that’s probably a little conservative. When you can clean 100 .308, inside and out including primer pockets in less than 30 minutes, you’d be surprised how many friends you have

We have also used a LEM for a few years. It is the basic so no timer or speed control, but who would want to run it less than flat out? I am not convinced about the capacity and have never been able to fill it to the levels others suggest are possible. What I can say is it is quick and convenient and I can see exactly how the cleaning is progressing without having to stop it and unscrew an end panel, in fact I can put my hand in whilst it is running and pull out a handful of cases to inspect.

I far prefer caseless ammunition as it means I have no need for tiresome case preparation, shoot a lot of it nowadays.

Ovenpaa,
I think we spoke a good while ago on the LEM and how to get the best from it.
A couple of things I have learnt since on fine tuning it.
1) With every load of brass, I add a teaspoon(ish) of citric acid. Easily bought as a wine fortifier, it definitely brightens the shine on the brass, and improves cleaning time.
2) About every five or so loads, I run the machine with just water and pins for five minutes and add a squirt of descaler. This allows a quick wipe down of the container, and aids rotational speed of the brass when used next.

dromia wrote:I far prefer caseless ammunition as it means I have no need for tiresome case preparation, shoot a lot of it nowadays.

If there was a like button I would be pressing it right now.